


Regarding False Gods

by Slybrarian



Series: Banned Together 2020 [5]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Blasphemy, Gen, Mission Reports, Mythology References, Paperwork, daniel jackson's dubious history, false gods, no beta we die like Jaffa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24459481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slybrarian/pseuds/Slybrarian
Summary: All Elizabeth wants is to get some straight answers about a sketchy mission report so she can talk the System Lords into not attacking Earth again. Is it too much to ask?
Series: Banned Together 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1760245
Comments: 8
Kudos: 42
Collections: Banned Together Bingo 2020





	Regarding False Gods

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the "Fuck the Church" box on my [Banned Together Bingo card](https://slybrarian.dreamwidth.org/76058.html). Specifically, the prompt references the MPP Hays Code, which forbids things such as 'denying the authority of Church and State', using words such as 'God' or 'Jesus Christ' outside of religious ceremonies, and "throwing ridicule on any religious faith."

"Major Carter, Doctor Jackson," Elizabeth said as they entered her new office at Stargate Command. "Thank you for coming. Please have a seat."  
As they exchanged pleasantries, Elizabeth noted that it was apparently a blue day for SG-1. In the weeks since she'd arrived, she'd become convinced that there was some sort of pattern in what they - and every other SG team - chose to wear each day. She hadn't figured out what those patterns were quite yet, but she was sure it was there. 

"I've been doing some review for our upcoming meeting with the System Lords," Elizabeth explained, gesturing toward an open folder in front of her. "Particularly regarding our intelligence on Ba'al. There's a mission report from SG-1 that I need some clarification on."

"We'd be happy to help," Carter said.

"It's from the middle of last year. P2X-743, locally called Assem. Apparently you encountered a mid-level Goa'uld underlord affiliated with Ba'al, who claimed to be an important figure in his court and in charge of the production of ships and weapons. Now, the report has plenty of information your learned about that industry, and how you... terminated his leadership, but no one seems to have included what the Goa'uld was called."

"Oh," Carter said, looking like she'd just bitten into a lemon. "That mission."

"Yes, that's definitely a mission that happened," Jackson agreed. 

"I'm sure we included everything we found out about Ba'al's support infrastructure"

Elizabeth waited for a few moments, until it became clear they weren't going to add more. "It's going to be a little hard for me to take credit for weakening Ba'al's position if I don't even know who we defeated. What was his name? It's hard to imagine he didn't say it, given a typical Goa'uld's ego."

There was a brief exchange of nonverbal communication between the team members.

"Yahweh," Carter admitted with a pain expression. 

"Oh," Elizabeth said after a couple stunned seconds. "Oh my."

"I think you can see," Jackson said, "why General Hammond suggested that we leave it vague in the reports."

"Especially since he's very much a former false god," Carter added. 

"Yeah, Jack was pretty thorough about that. There wasn't enough left of him to fill a bucket, let alone put in a sarcophagus. I don't know if he was working out issues with Ba'al or the problems his knees give him every time he has to, ah, kneel before his God in Mass."

Elizabeth considered the amount of C-4 listed on the attached form for expended munitions, and suggested halfheartedly, "Could it just be a coincidence in the pronunciation?" 

"Could it? Yes. Is it? Well, the pronunciation debate for the tetragrammaton is pretty well settled, and we don't make a big deal about the difference between, say, Apep and Apophis."

"That's what I was afraid of."

"I mean, when you think about it, we really shouldn't be that surprised," Jackson continued. "We've encountered Goa'uld who have the names of other Canaanite gods, like Ba'al and Moloch, and heard about others like Qetesh. From what we've seen there often mythological connections between Goa'uld of aligned factions or descent."

"Like Ra, Hathor, Heru, and so on," Elizabeth said. 

"Exactly. Most people don't really think of the god of Israel and Judah as being related Levantine pantheons, but that's because of the evolution and survival of Judaism, not historical fact. The split happened well after the Goa'uld were driven from Earth. In theory, at least. There's some evidence to suggest otherwise."

"Daniel," Carter said. "Not now."

"I'm just saying, there's a number of known Goa'uld whose names aren't attested in their corresponding Earth cultures until much later, sometime well into the common era. The Morrigan and Kali, for example. I've heard about a couple of Goa'uld archives that might hold valuable historical information. I'm sure it'd be full of strategically valuable knowledge, too, if you'd just authorize us to do some scouting for a raid. After we unfreeze Jack, obviously."

Seeing Carter fight to keep a straight face, Elizabeth supposed this was a common request. "I'll take that suggestion under advisement."

"So," Carter said. "Do you want us to revise the mission report?"

"I am torn between a desire for historical accuracy and actionable intelligence on one hand," Elizabeth said, "and a desire not to have our funding removed on the other."

"That was something General Hammond was concerned about as well." 

"It seemed like something of a double standard to me," Jackson said. "We never had problems using the names of gods from other extant religions when people like Nirrti showed up. Then again, we never had a Hindu senator tell us that we could shut down the gate project because God would protect America."

"I think," Elizabeth said after a few more moments of careful thought, "that how to handle sensitive matters like this is something that we need a clear policy on, which can wait until we're sure we're not about to be attacked again."

Jackson shrugged. "Come visit us in A&T whenever you want. We talk about this sort of thing all the time."

"Is there anything else we can help with, ma'am?" Carter asked. 

Elizabeth switched to another folder. "Since I've got you here, there was another report that I couldn't quite understand. P9X-108, a few weeks before I arrived. Something about 'participated in a local customary ceremony'. Normally Dr. Jackson goes into more detail."

"Oh, that's just a phrase teams use when things get awkward and embarrassing," Carter said. "In this case, we didn't want to say that the four of us were forced to get married. Again."

"Forced to get married," Elizabeth repeated. 

"You know," Jackson said, "like what happened to Colonel Reynolds and Gunnery Sergeant Yang last week? It was a lovely ceremony, once you got past the spears, although not quite to the standard set by Major Lorne and his Unas bride."

"I'm not sure anything will match that," Carter said. "They do surprisingly good barbecue."

Elizabeth rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Start from the beginning."


End file.
